A state senator says Michigan's economic development agency's
inflated claims of job creation is costing it credibility and leading her to
lose confidence in the program.

State Sen. Nancy Cassis, R-Novi, called out the Michigan Economic
Development Corporation for its press release that boasted of new job creations
that a state audit showed only occurred 28 percent of the time.

At a recent senate hearing, Cassis told MEDC CEO Greg Main, "The
press releases are an absolute disconnect with reality."

Michael
Shore, spokesman for the MEDC, didn't respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

Cassis
said the MEDC didn't seem too concerned that their projections seldom come
true. The senator said she's putting together legislation that would require
the MEDC to state in its news releases the minimum number of jobs needed to
qualify for a particular tax credit.

"They
were putting the administration and the governor's best foot forward," Cassis
said. "And it was no glass slipper, let me tell you. It gives an almost false
sense of actual jobs created."

It found that the MEDC's claim
for total jobs added up to 1.4 million. This included retained and indirect
jobs and would have accounted for 29 percent of the state's labor force. A retained
job is when a company stays in an area due to tax incentives and those jobs
don't leave the state. Indirect jobs are jobs created due to the economic
activity created by the tax-subsidized business.

MIRS found that the MEDC had
claimed credit for creating 204,818 jobs since 2003. A report from Michigan's
Auditor General found that 28 percent of the new jobs the MEDC projected actually came to fruition.

"Economic
development bureaucrats and politicians on both sides are people too, which
means the 'saved or created' jobs they care about most are their own," McHugh
wrote in an e-mail. "The emptiest file in the cabinet contains government
agency press releases that say, 'Our programs don't work, the Legislature
should shut us down.' "